Rationale: Cannabis use among pregnant people increased by over 130% from 2003 to 2022 in the United States, and is currently estimated to be over 7%. Previous studies have noted significant differences in sleep outcomes for young children with prenatal cannabis exposure.

Method: Mothers of over 11,000 kids across the US in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD) filled out the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) which assess children’s sleep quality. This study compared sleep outcomes among 9-10 year old’s whose mothers reported cannabis use while they were pregnant with those whose mothers didn’t use cannabis while pregnant.

Results: The analysis showed a positive association between anxiety and cannabis use: overall, people who used cannabis were about 1.24 times more likely to also be clinically anxious. Those with a cannabis use disorder were 1.68 times more likely to be anxious than non users. Even infrequent cannabis use was associated with anxiety symptoms.

Meaning: Anxiety risk is elevated among those who have a cannabis use disorder, or even just use cannabis occasionally. If cannabis were good medicine for anxiety, we would expect symptoms to decrease with use, but this is not what the evidence shows. A large analysis of many studies suggests that anxiety disorders are not helped by cannabis, and may be worsened.